Book-burnings, by their very nature, are authoritarian and anti-libertarian.

Edited on Mon Apr-04-11 02:25 PM by howard112211

By no means is a book-burning suited as a mean to make some sort of statement in favor of freedom of expression, as some have suggested. What other reason is there to burn a book, other than to destroy the written word, and in effect, censor it?

In our society book burnings are legal. Just as is marching with a swastica. That doesn't mean that these things aren't the fundamental anti-thesis of the foundations of our values, our constitution, and our free society altogether. They are.

If I buy it, it's mine. I am free to dispose of it any way I see fit (complying with local statutes, of course).Nothing has been 'censored'. It IS, however, a big 'FUCK YOU' to those that are attempting to control free speech with threats of violence and outright murder. Fuck them.

There are plenty of reasons to burn a book that don't necessarily mean that you want the book banned/censored. You could burn a Bible to protest Christianity; that doesn't necessarily mean that you want Christianity outlawed. It could just as easily be an expression of disgust or anger with Christianity as an institution--or an expression of disgust with one particular *translation* of the Bible...or an expression of support for a secular government free of religious influence.

If I go out and burn a copy of "Twilight", it doesn't always mean that I want "Twilight" BANNED. Maybe I'm just pissed at the idea of sparkly vampires, or maybe I'm protesting the fact that a chunk of Stephanie Meyer's profits are going to the Mormon Church.

You are taking the most EXTREME example of what a book-burning COULD mean and propping it up as if it's the ONLY possible interpretation. That's like saying that flag-burning is anarchist by nature, and that all flag-burners want to see America destroyed. Don't you think that's just a bit ridiculous?

18. Because the absolute mean of expressing our rights is by... burning books.

Edited on Mon Apr-04-11 03:08 PM by Lost-in-FL

Absolutely nothing else that can compare or resemble burning the quran. Supressing the burning of all religious books would be an abomination and a disgusting ploy to supress our rights of expression.

Obviously the drawingmohammed-burningquran thing is not working. The west need to employ another platform to demonstrate their disagreement. The west need to get more creative and effective. Book burning is so 213BC.

Burning one copy of a book has nothing to do with censorship. In fact, telling someone that they can't or shouldn't burn their own copy of a book sounds like censorship to me. Interesting little problem you have there.

What other reason is there to burn a book, other than to destroy the written word, and in effect, censor it?

Yes, protest.

Burning books is no longer a method of censorship. Mass production and the internet have assured popular books will be easily accessed by almost anyone in a first world country.

That doesn't mean that these things aren't the fundamental anti-thesis of the foundations of our values, our constitution, and our free society altogether. They are.

Three illusions. We lie to ourselves and each other about our values, our Constitution means whatever judges and lawyers says it means, and our free society locks up people for altering their own consciouses (thought crime). We have made these things meaningless, or perhaps they were always meaningless.

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